Next time you think that a cloud looks like a company logo, it may not be simply your imagination.

Inventors Francisco Guerra and Brian Glover created a process to make "clouds" (basically soap based foams mixed with helium) in practically any shape you'd like (like the Mickey Mouse ears to the left).

[CAPS BELOW ARE MY COMMENTS ON THIS FAKE NEWS STORY:] Jasper, an email friend, is welcome to respond. Fran too. I've emailed both of them. I like fun, cute newspaper stories, but I don't like Press Releases that become unquestioned NEWS STORIES..... see COMMENTS in CAPS: Enjoy! Add your own comments too. -- danny

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Man-made clouds to change? the outlookTO CHANGE? IF THE FIRM EVER GETS OFF THE GROUND THAT IS....

SUBHED:

Customised steam will? carry brand names to new heightsWILL CARRY? IF THE FIRM GETS OFF GROUND. RIGHT NOW IT IS A FIRM WITH A GOOD PR PRESS RELEASE AND WEBSITE, THAT'S ALL....

By Jasper Hamill

Next time a flotilla of brand logos drifts over the horizon, don't fret - it's an advert, not a nervous breakdown.

GOOD LEDE! BUT JASPER, THIS IDEA IS NEVER GONNA FLY, JUST LIKE THE GALACTIC SPACE HOTEL STORY, JUST LIKE THE EIFFEL TOWER REDESIGN NON STORY, JUST LIKE RICHARD BRANSON SPACE TOURISM STORIES, JUST LIKE SMOKING ALLOWED AIRLINES IN GERMANY STORY LAST YEAR.....

A company called Flogos has launched the first custom-made clouds and will soon be bringing its product to Britain. HAS LAUNCHED? NOT YET? SOON COMING TO UK? NEVER. THIS IS PURE PR FROM THE OWNER, FED TO THE UNSUSPECTING MEDIA....

Produced by a dedicated machine at the rate of two a minute, the flogos can be made to any shape required and float for up to half an hour, soaring up to 30,000ft for a distance of 40 miles. PURE CONJECTURE. PURE PRESS RELEASE!

Made from air, a tiny amount of organic surfactant taken from a tree, and helium, flogos are also environmentally friendly, say the firm.SAYS THE FIRM. WHERE'S THE PROOF. SO SOMEBODY SAYS THE WORLD IS FLAT. IS THE WORLD THEREFORE FLAT?

Huge brands such as Apple, Disney and Mercedes have already NO THEY HAVE NOT floated their logos in the sky and inventor Francisco Guerra hopes many more will follow suit. YES HE DOES HOPE, THE GOOD HOPE OF A PR-SAVVY INVENTOR AND MORE POWER TO HIM BUT FIRST TELL THE TRUTH. PR IS ONE THING, A NEWS STORY IS ANOTHER....

He said: "I'm in the office from 7 a.m. because inquiries are coming from every square inch of the planet. EVERY SQUARE INCH. GOT IT? We are making them as fast as we can but it's not enough. LOVELY HYPE!

"Every major advertising company in the world has come to discuss their roster. EVERY MAJOR ADVERTISIER, BULL****. Some Fortune 500 companies have been too and in SOUTH Korea, artists have told us they want to use flogos to make a kind of sculpture. The response has been incredible." COOL! GOOD IDEA FOR ART, YES!

Guerra started his career in Hollywood, designing special effects. AHA! THE HOLLYWOOD CONNECTION. WORKS EVERY TIME. OTHER REPORTS SAY FRAN IS A MAGICIAN.....

After this, he struck gold GOLD? REALLY? SAYS WHO? with a machine that generates snow and a beer mat that detects date-rape drugs in drinks. GOLD? AGAIN, SAYS WHO?

Guerra added: "This is a passive way to advertise. The only negative thing people can feel about them is jealousy, JEALOUSY YES. HOW ABOUT RIDICULE OVER THE PR HYPE? because they didn't come up with the idea first. Our problem is that we can't be in all of these places at the same time, so we're looking for distributors." AHA. THE WAY TO MAKE MONEY. SIGN UP DISTRIBUTORS. NOW WE GOT IT. MONEY TALKS...

One prospective PROSPECTIVE? REALLY? SAYS WHO? British distributor, John Hughes, who runs festivals around Britain and owns a creative communications group named Get Involved, called the flogos' inventor "a genius". FRAN IS A GENIUS. A PR GENIUS.

He said: "This is IS? going to be a very successful product and will be WILL BE? picked up by early adopters creating strategies that make a big impact in the marketplace. That's where flogos should be and will be placed." GOOD QUOTE. BASED ON PR.

The flogos have been used HAVE NOT! NOT YET! THIS IS PURE PR HYPE! A LIE! for non-commercial purposes - such as publicising clean air projects in China SOURCES IN CHINA PLEASE! - but cloud aficionados fear brand messages will prevail and sending hordes of adverts into the air could ruin the skyscape.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney, leader of the Cloud Appreciation Society, has written books on the gentle pursuit of cloud watching. WQNDERFUL BOOKS! AND GAVIN GOT SUCKED INTO THIS NON-STORY FOR A QUOTE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT VERY WELL MAY NEVER HAPPEN AT ALL....

He said: "I find the concept of someone sending up clouds in the shape of a Coca-Cola logo, or something like that, absolutely abhorrent. DON'T WORRY, GAVIN, FRAN'S IDEA WILL NEVER FLY. THIS STORY IS PURE PR PICKUP...If you live in the city you are constantly bombarded by corporate messages. Clouds, with their formlessness, are the last wilderness you have to gaze upon. It would be a sad day if you gaze up and find that you had a company logo in the clouds." AGAIN, DON'T WORRY. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Reacting to the news flogos are soon to launch multicoloured variations, he thundered: "The colour of clouds when a low sun strikes them is one of the most beautiful colour schemes there is. You don't need to start introducing multicoloured, tutti-frutti clouds. I say leave our clouds alone. This matters to me, I tell you."

Aviators - even those flying the most vulnerable of aircraft - would not have to worry about flogos, claimed Colin Mackinnon, head of Microlight Scotland. AHA, ANOTHER EXPERT NEEDLESSLY BROUGHT IN TO THIS NON STORY....

"I don't see them causing any real problems. Occasionally up there in the air you run into balloons. The first time I encountered one, I didn't even see it I just heard a bang and thought something had exploded in the aeroplane.

"These flogos are soft and fluffy and at least they won't make a bang when you fly through them. What concerns me more when I'm flying around in the sky is the increasing trend for unmanned aerial vehicles - stuff made out of metal and plastic rather than steam."

However any prospective "skyvertiser" in the UK must seek permission, the Civil Aviation Authority warned.